57 Iowa 644 | Iowa | 1882
I. The evidence establishes, without contradiction, that defendant drove a steer in the night-time to the town of Cherokee, and in the morning sold it to one McConnell, a butcher. This was on the 18th day of September. On the 3d of October, Mathews discovered that a steer belonging to him, kept in a herd of one Coleman, about fifteen miles from Cherokee, was missing. For the stealing of this animal defendant was indicted. There was evidence tending to show that the steer sold by defendant was the one owned by Mathews, which had disappeared from the herd.
II. The court gave the following instruction to the jury:
This instruction is complained of by defendant’s counsel as being erroneous, on the ground that it directs the jury that the
The recent unexplained possession of stolen property tends to establish the guilt of the person in whose possession it is found, and will authorize conviction, unless the inference of' guilt is overcome by other facts tending to establish the innocence of the accused. This presumption may be overcome by testimony establishing facts inconsistent with guilt. Good character may be sufficient in some cases to overcome the presumption. The law holds that the presumption in question, unless overcome, will authorize conviction. It is a presumption recognized by the law, and may, therefore, be termed a presumption of law. The term presumption of fact implies that from certain facts the law will raise a presumption. Either of these terms, presumption of law or presumption of fact, may be used to express the same thought, for they are identical in meaning. See State v. Richart, ante, p. 245; State v. Hessians et al., 50 Iowa, 135; The State v. Taylor, 25 Iowa, 275. The instruction we think is correct.
The rules relating to the competency of testimony given by other witnesses are applicable when the prisoner testifies in his own behalf, and the fact that the evidence against him is strong and his story improbable can have no bearing upon the question of the admissibility of the testimony proposed. We are to apply the rules recognized by the law without regard to the particular merits of the case before us.
In criminal cases all circumstances connected with a transaction tending to show the guilt or innocence of the accused, which bear upon its character and tend to disclose the animus of the parties, are regarded by the law as a part of the transaction itself, and are competent evidence. In the absence of a knowledge of such circumstances, incorrect and unjust conclusions may be reached touching the motives and intentions of the parties to the transaction. These attending circumstances are in the language of the law denominated res gestes, and are always to be received in evidence and considered with the principal fact or transaction. The defendant’s guilt in this case, in view of his own testimony, depends upon his knowledge that Garren had no right to the possession of the steer and that it was stolen-property. If this element is not in the case he is innocent. He ought, therefore, to have bee^ permitted to testify as to his knowledge upon this subject, de
For the error in refusing to admit the evidence above considered the judgment of the District Court must be
Reversed.